By Monday morning I was ready to go back to work. However, I managed to get most of the “had to be done” things completed so felt good about it... and the fact that I finally had the money to pay Rex for the Sunfish. I decided to stop at his house on the way home. That was a real eye opener! Actually, it was a continuation of an oft repeated process by me... not doing enough research before making a decision. Much to my great displeasure I found out that the Sunfish was too wide to fit in the station wagon and that I would need to buy a trailer for it. I owned it but couldn’t move it. Rex agreed to move it down to the sailing club for me but that wasn’t where I wanted it. When Rex mentioned the sailing club he asked if I was ready to rejoin. That reminded me that I’d promised Bob that I’d propose him for membership and to do that I had to be a member. More money!
We picked up our mail at the post office and I’d stop to get it up on my way home. I’m pretty sure it was that week that I ran into Sandy there. She still looked like she was 16 and, surprisingly, she remembered me. The “curves” were still there and even though she was wearing different clothes, they all showed. For some reason I was taken aback when she spoke to me. The only thing I could think of to say was to ask if she’d gone sailing with Bob yet. She hadn’t and as I got in my car I couldn’t help but wishing that it was me that was going to go sailing with her.
I also think it was that week that the stroller broke when Elle was taking a walk with the baby. When I got home that night she told me where she’d left it and asked if I’d go retrieve it while she finished getting supper ready. It wasn’t that far away but it was on a street that I’d not yet been on since buying the house. I saw it leaning against a picket fence with a wheel missing. As I pulled up in front of it I looked into the back yard of the house that went with it... and almost couldn’t believe my eyes. There was the most beautiful sight I could’ve wished for... a clothes line with nothing but white panties on it. There were three different sizes but there wasn’t much difference in each group. Each of the different sizes was separated by a small gap on the line. It was magnificent. There were at least five pair for each size. I’m sure I sat in the car for at least a minute taking in the sight. When I finally got out to fetch the stroller I saw a fairly attractive woman coming out the back door and heading for the line. I’d never seen her before but, as I said, I’d not been down that street in the six months we lived there. As I loaded the broken stroller into the trunk I kept an eye on her as she took the clothes pins off the panties and then carefully folded them before putting them in the wash basket. I was sort of amazed. When Elle took her panties off the line she just dropped them into the basket and then, when it was time to put them away, she’d leave them in a pile on her chair for me because she knew I wanted them put away by maker and type. She just wasn't into panties all that much. That was my domain.
On my way back home I saw our neighbor, Kathleen, out in her yard, waving frantically at me. I stopped and she told me to tell Elle that we were free to go pick as many strawberries as we wanted in the field between the two houses. I thanked her and then we chatted for a few minutes. The house with the panties was still on my mind so I described the house to her and asked who lived there. She gave me the name of the people and, unasked, told me that they had two teen aged daughters. That explained the three different sizes of panties. In the few minutes it took me to get back home I found myself puzzling why there were only panties on the line and nothing else. I made a mental note to drive down that street more often.
The new switchboard operator at the bank, Netta, was working out well. The disconnect between she and Bret had started to affect his work. I’d “pushed” Trish about it but she’d said she wouldn’t discuss it and held true to her word. I finally took Bret aside and told him that acting the way he was acting was not very mature, especially for someone who might be made an officer in the upcoming Board meeting. That got his attention. I told him that it wasn’t important that he tell me about the problem but that he had to work it out with Netta. I guess he was feeling guilty and decided to “unload” on me. Long story short; They had dated in their junior year in high school. Bret was the big hero athlete. He admitted that he didn’t look the part, being well over 200 pounds with a round belly and looking younger than his age. He decided to change his image and tried to grow a mustache. When he and Netta had a fight she started calling him Wimpy, like the character in the Popeye cartoons... and it stuck. For the rest of his high school years he had to endure that nickname and, he never forgave Netta for doing that to him. I sat there thinking that it was at least 10 years since then and puzzled as to why he was still mad at her so I asked. He shrugged and said that he was afraid that she start using the name again and embarrass him all over again. I wanted to laugh but I didn’t. I told him that if it were me I’d make a point of going to her and telling her that I’d forgiven her to see what she said. As we got up he told me that he’d think about it. As he walked out of the room I could definitely see his resemblance to Wimpy... and smiled.
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